A new round in the fight over how much New York City will pay the victims of the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash will begin next week, when a federal appeals court considers whether the city is liable for the disaster.

Lawyers for the city argue that the crash is due entirely to the negligence of the assistant captain who passed out while piloting the ferry. The city is trying to cap the amount it will have to pay in dozens of remaining cases to a total of $14 million.

So far, the city has settled about two-thirds of the 191 claims it faces for the crash for $27.6 million; it still faces suits from 59 passengers or their estates. Among those who have not settled are the estates of nine of the 11 who died and many of those who suffered the worst injuries when the Andrew J. Barberi slammed into a pier at the St. George terminal on Staten Island.

The case, which will be argued next Wednesday before a panel of judges for the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, will turn on the ferry services’ failure to follow city regulations for operating the ferry. The regulation at the center of the case requires two captains to be at the front pilothouse while the ship is in motion. At the time of the accident, an assistant captain, Richard Smith, was present in the pilothouse facing Staten Island, while the captain, Michael Gansas, was at the ferry’s other end. The city has argued that because the rule is more stringent than the industry standard, the city cannot be held liable for not enforcing it.

Assistant Captain Smith was apparently not conscious as the ferry approached the pier. He has said that he was so tired from yard-work and back pain that he should not have gone to work that day.

Last year, a federal judge in Brooklyn, Edward Korman, said the city was negligent for failing to enforce the two-pilot rule. A ruling by the 2nd Circuit affirming that decision would pave the way for the remaining plaintiffs to recover potentially tens of millions of dollars.